ready player one

chapter 7: the shinning ✔️

the shinning
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madison's p.o.v:
i was told i needed to go into a different room because each oasis room had only two setups so i went to the room next to wade and sam's.

i called aech to meet us at halliday's journals and we all ran in together. "curator, we found the second clue. it's here." i said with confidence. "can we see november 23-27th 2025?" wade asked. as the movies came down to our eye level, we studied everyone individual movie until wade stumbled upon the shinning.

"it's hallidays 11th favorite horror film-" "and steven king hated the movie. a creator that hates his own creation." i finished for wade. "which means this has to be it." he said as we stepped closer to each other. aech put his hands on our chests and said "no side chit chat."

"are you absolutely sure? i hope you have the belly for it." curator said as he selected the move and we descended in front of a theatre. i looked at wade, or uh, parzival and grabbed his hand. he looked down and smiled as we walked through the cinema doors.

we walked down the steps into the lobby, we noticed a stack of papers flipping, almost like a timer.
"i'm gonna say, we have about 5 minutes to find the key." artemis stated. i nodded and started talking to parz about where the key would be. "there's too many keys in the shining, where we we start first?" i asked.

"maybe we can go floor by floor of the hotel and when our time runs out, we can just come back and go to the next level." parz said. "that'll take too long and also... nah, it'll just take too long." i stayed trying to come up with a point.

as me and parzival were debating, arty interrupted and asked, "uh guys, where's aech?" parz and i stopped and looked around but then realized where or more like who he would've followed. "oh shit." we said at the same time as we ran to the elevators.

"aech run!!" i yelled as parz already turned back, running the opposite direction. as aech started running, the blood was already flowing from the elevator as such a rapid rate that we knew that we were going to get swept away.

"epiales!" i heard parz yell from the second story. i looked up and was instantly covered by a giant wave and all i saw was black.

i can't believe i zeroed out.

••••••••••

wade/parzival's p.o.v:

no. no, no, no, no, no. this can't be happening. "epiales!" i yelled. in that moment our eyes connected she was taken under by a wave.

"parzival! i think i found the key!" i heard arty yell from behind me. i ignored her and fell to my knees. i heard footsteps behind me and a hand in my shoulder.

"parz, she's still in the real world." artemis said to reassure me but it didn't help. "do you realize what i just witnessed? i just saw the girl i love basically die right in front of me. with all of us finding the keys and getting closer and closer to the end, i've realized how much danger i've put her in. this could happen in real life." i just let everything spill out of my mouth without a second thought.

if madison was in here, i would've been so embarrassed.

"you... love her? come on z, we don't have much time left." artemis said with determination as she pulled me off the ground. h ran up to us out of breathe and looking frankly, scared shitless.

we started running towards room 237 as aech whispered, "is artemis pissed at me?" "no, i'm pissed at you. you've never seen the shining?" i asked a little annoyed. "you know i hate scary movies!" aech defended. i rolled my eyes but kept going.

"we just need to get to room 237." i stayed. "no way, we will stay out of room 237. there was this naked, crazy, zombie lady." h said with a shakiness in his voice. "there are no zombies in the shinning." arty stayed. she also added, "well maybe it's not supposed to be like the movie. kira is the key like you said." "hey i saw a picture of kira." aech stated like it was no big deal.

we all stopped, turned around and aech completely took us down to the ground because he didn't stop. he led us to the picture and arty started to run through the clue to see if this hand anything to do with the clue.

"escape your past. the leap not taken. halliday's biggest fear wasn't some book or movie. his greatest fear, was kissing a girl. that's the leap he couldn't take." artemis said as music started coming from the ball room.

"that's her! that's kira." artemis pointed out a blonde in the center of the abyss, surrounded by dancing zombies. "none of this is in the shinning." i said a little confused. "z look, that's the zombie circle level in mayhem mansion, one of hallidays first games. the shinning trivia was just a diversion." she said.

"how do we get to her?" h asked. "you take the leap." artemis said matter of factly and jumped off the edge. i tried stopping her but it was too late and we were sucked back to the front of the theatre.

we all sat down on the sidewalk in front of the theatre but heard rustling behind us. "e-epiales??" i yelled in shock. she sat up, looked around and passed out again. passed out? you don't pass out in the oasis. you zero out.

i pulled her into my lap and started to study her. her eyes, heartbeat, anything to figure out what's going on. after a few minutes she woke up again.

"do you know what's going on?" i asked her. she nodded as i helped her up but she instantly collapsed in my arms.

artemis walked out with the key and the scroll, noticed epi and ran to her. "what's happened to her? i thought she zeroed out?" she asked with concern laced in her voice. "it's hard to explain. we'll talk more in the real world. we need to get her out of here." i said as everyone went their separate ways and logged out.

••••••••••

madison's p.o.v:

in the darkness i saw a little light beside me and realized it was a key hole. i searched around with my hands for a door knob, found it and opened the door. inside the was what looked like hallidays office.

at the desk was halliday himself or at least an avatar that looks like him and sounds like him and acts like him. "h-hello?" i asked. he looked at me and said, "so, you must be the famous epiales everyone is talking about." "i wasn't the first to the key so why are people talking about me?" i asked.

"i don't know, that's something you need to find out. i'm just the dude who made the game." he said in a bored tone. i laughed and asked, "why am i here? you don't just 'pass out' in the oasis."

"smart girl. i just couldn't let you zero out. you remind me of myself and i don't want you having to go through all that loss and going back to square one." he said with a little bit of sadness in his eyes. "you're special. now go." and with that, i was back at journal entries and i logged out.

as wade and samantha bursted in the room, i fell on my knees with my heart beat erratic. i felt someone pick me up and lay me on the couch.

halliday... pulled me, me! out of the game to talk to me. why me?!?

"madison, madison! what happened?" wade asked in a panic. all i did was grab his face and kiss him. it wasn't slow, but instead fast like it was going to be our last time.

i pulled away and said, "i'll explain everything but we have to be in private." sam and wade nodded and we went to samantha's room and spilled everything from the beginning to the end.

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a.n// y'all! i'm not gonna lie, this chapter completely changed the way i'm going with this book. i'm super excited and i've never seen anyone do this before so i hope y'all are ready!! here's a tip, expect the unexpected and happy gunting!